Blood and Love
by Badger.The.Hufflepuff
Summary: Emily Tucker lost everything when the Zs came. Now living with a group she loses it all again. With very few of the old group alive, Emily decides to join them on a mission to save humanity.
1. Chapter 1

Emily has been with the group of Camp Blusky since Doc found her. Before Doc, she was barely surviving. Her parents died during the first week of the disease. She was only thirteen when all this started. She survived by sticking to the woods and sleeping in trees. Doc found her with barely any meat on her bones, covered in dirt and blood, and half wild. Doc took her back to the camp and been helping her ever since.

Doc is the only one she trusts. She has severe trust issues due to the many bad groups she has come across. Doc has grown to be like a father to her and she always sticks by his side.

Today she is standing with him as he makes trades with the market. "Well if availability of ammo is all your care about the 22 is the way to go." Sketchy says as Emily runs her fingers over the recurve black bow. It comes with a black quiver with gold details and black mahogany arrows with gold tips.

"How 'bout a straight across trade?" Doc asks as Emily moves her eyes away from the amazing bow, quiver, and arrows to Doc. "A dozen of these aspirins for a dozen of these reloaded .223's."

"You can't kill a zombie with aspirin." Skeezy says to Doc.

"Well, you can't kill a fever with a bullet and they ain't making any more aspirin."

"Make it a dozen oxycontin and you got a deal."

"I'd have to take a dozen oxycontin before I'd make that deal. How 'bout some meth?" Doc and Skeezy look at Emily as she says that.

"Yeah, what Emmy said." Doc says as he wraps an arm around her and kisses her temple. "Huh? You want some crystal? Yeah, I baked it myself."

"That same pink ice you made before? No, that stuff gave me an ax to the skull headache."

"That's what the aspirin is for." Emily says.

"Hoe many ampules of morphine you got left in there?" Sketchy asks.

"Behind you." Emily turns just as Addy takes out the Z with her metal bat.

"Brutal." She tells Sketchy after a minute.

"Told you." Sketchy gives a side glance at the Z. "Hey, isn't that Red Hanson?"

"Z's got red?" Skeezy asks. "Damn it, he was one of our best customers, tough as bullets. I wonder if his brothers know."

"You can ask because here they come now." Emily says as she grabs an arrow and fires it with the bow, causing it to go right through the Z's brain and causing it to fall like nothing. "Good aim kiddo." Normally the weapons Emily has on her is a hunting knife, which she keeps in her right boot. Her boots have slots in it to keep things. She also has a pistol on her right thigh.

Mack takes the other out just as another sneaks up at him. Emily aims her bow and fires again. "Closing time. You can keep the bow and gear, baby girl." Sketchy says as he kisses her cheek and hands her an arm guard and the quiver filled with arrows. "Catch you next time."

"Thanks, Sketchy." Sketchy has always been sweet to her. Emily thinks it's because he had a daughter before all this and she reminds him of her. The guys back their things up and drive off.

"The way that big one moved, he must have turned just a few hours ago." Doc sas as Emily puts the quiver onto her back and folded up her bow. It's one of those collapsible ones, so she sticks it right into her left boot's slot.

"We should check the camp." Emily tells Doc.

"Yeah, we should make sure everything with the camp is good. Who knows if there are more Zs running around." Doc says as he takes Emily's leather fingerless gloved hand in his. She's dressed in her gloves on, her heavy duty black combat boots, a pair of grey skinnies, a black wife beater, and her favorite red zip up. Emily's auburn hair is pulled back in a ponytail to keep her cool and keep it from being grabbed as easily.

Emily is a beautiful girl with her blue eyes that resmeble sapphire stones. She has pale skin that seems to glow with her eyes. She is petite and short, standing only 5'3". The only thing that can be considered a flaw is a scar that goes through her left eyebrow, over her eyelid, and just a little bit under her eye. She got that from a group she was unlucky enough to run into. She was lucky to not have been blinded.

Emily is pulled from her thoughts as she sees what has come of her camp. "Oh my god..." She whispers as she sees the fire in the camp.

"Mayday. Mayday. Calling Camo Blue Sky." Doc says as he speaks in his walkie, staring at the camp. "This is Doc. With Thompson, Carver, and Tucker. What is your situation? Over."

"Hey, Doc. What's going on? What's going on?" Emily sighs in relief as she hears Garnett.

"Garnett? Thank God you're alive." Doc says. We thought everyone was dead."

"I'm not at Camp Blue Sky. What's happening?"

"The batteries in the walkie are dying." Doc says trough the walkie.

"Wait. Say. Again."

Emily jumps as an explosion comes from Camp Blue Sky. "Blue Sky has been overrun." Doc says. "The whole place is... on fire."

"Survivors?"

"Well, there was a ton of gunfire a while ago, but nothing since." The walkie becomes static, causing Emily to frown.

"Doc..."

"Come on. Let's go. Come on, sweetie." Doc says as he grabs Emily's hand and the four head away from the water. The four of them run through the woods to get to the camp.

"Oh, there's the escape bus." Addy says, breathing heavily from their run. "Oh, they got the kids out. Okay." Emily watches the bus pass them and sees a Z in the back.

"No, the kids." Emily cries.

"Come on." Addy says as they run quickly after the bus. They watch the bus swerve before crashing into a tree.

Emily stops in her tracks as the back exit of the bus opens and all the kids get out, but now they're Zs. "Run!" Emily screams as they turn and run as fast as she can. "Doc." Emily cries in fear as she sees them gaining on them.

They climb up the hill and stop when they see four Zs standing there waiting. A truck runs the walkers down and Garrett pops his head out of the window. "Get in!" He orders as a soldier opens the door.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Emily climbs into the bed of the truck as Doc gets into the back with the soldier. Addy and Mack climb up with Emily.

"Go go go go!" Mack yells as they drive down the road. Emily sighs and leans against the truck as they ride down the road.

Time goes by slow as Emily tries to get some sleep. She's exhausted after that long issue. "Hey, Em, I know you're tired, but we're here." Addy says, causing Emily to open her eyes. She stands up and looks around at the school. There's smoke and it looks like it recently got taken over.

"Get back in the truck." The soldier says to the strange man. Emily stands up and loads her bow in case anything tries to jump the soldier.

"Is it them?" The stranger asks. "Hammond?! Is it them?!" He shouts to the soldier, Hammond.

"Yeah." Hammond calls back as he gives mercy to one of the Zs.

"I got to pee." Emily rolls her eyes as she hears the man.

Everyone gets out of the truck and Emily puts her arrow back in the quiver, folds up her bow, tucks her bow into her boots, and hops out of the truck. "Don't go far." Warren tells the stranger.

"Don't worry." Emily looks at the man in disgust before going to Doc's side.

"My reinforcements are dead." Hammond tells them. "We need to make a quick search for survivors and any supplies." Hammond looks at the stranger. "You! Zip it up and stay close to me."

"Hey, where did all the Zs go?" Addy asks.

"Moved on. Like locusts."

"Yeah, but they'll be back." Hammond says. "Garnett and Warren, you clear the building. And you four check the vehicles."

"He's in charge now?" Emily asks Doc.

"Come on, Emmy." Doc says as he takes her hand and leads her off.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily walks with Doc as they check the area. As they walk they see a cage that the Zs are surrounding.

"Head up." Mack says as Emily grabs her knife.

"What are they after?" Emily asks.

"I know of only one thing. Come on." Mack and the others begin to take out the Zs. When they pike all the Zs they see a girl inside the cage.

"Wow." Emily says.

"Hey." Mack calls. "Hey." She doesn't answer, causing Emily to frown. "You alright?" Mack asks. Mack frowns before going over and breaking the lock. He gets inside the cage and starts for her.

"Careful." Addy says. "She might be dead."

Mack crouches down in front of the girl. "Hey." The girl gasps whip out her knife and pin Mack to the cage wall.

"Woah, woah, hey, hey, hey." Addy says as Emily steps away from the catch.

"Well, she ain't dead." Doc laughs, causing Emily to smile.

"Hey, hey. It's okay." Addy says. "It's okay. We're good people. We just saved you. Okay, don't hurt him." The girl backs up.

"Sorry. I didn't know where I was. I must have fallen asleep."

"Asleep?" Doc asks. "How long you in this cage for?"

"Two days." She says as she shakes her head. The group looks at each other before they decide to take the girl back to the rest of the group. They all meet inside the building. Garnett is trying to keep the baby from crying.

"Somebody better shut that kid up before he attracts Z's like flies." The stranger says as Emily sits cleaning and sharpening her knife.

"Hey. It's a baby, he makes noise, okay?"

"Shut up." Hammond tells the stranger. "And you, do what you can. He's right about the Z's. Here." The man hands the girl a water bottle. She takes it and takes big gulps before he rips it out of her hands a few seconds later. "Hey." He tosses it to Addy. "Why would somebody lock you in a cage and leave you to die?" Hammond asks. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. I locked myself in the cage for protection."

"You have the keys?"

"I lost them."

"Why are you dressed like that?" Warren asks as she looks at the slutty clothes the girl is in.

"I don't have to justify myself to you."

"Maybe you do!" Hammond yells. "We were supposed to meet the men in those vehicles. What happened here?"

"Those men showed up about a week ago. They cleared out the school and set up some kind of camp. But word got out that there was food. Lots of it from the bomb shelter. Yeah, it didn't take long. There was too many people. The soldiers shot some of the locals, and that brought the Z's. You can guess the rest."

"What are we wasting time talking to her for? Give her the baby and let's go." The stranger says.

"You can't give this girl a baby and leave."

"Well, they can't come with us."

"Listen." Hammond starts.

"No way am I leaving the baby and her behind. It's not gonna happen."

"It's just a baby. It's not like he's gonna grow up and be a fine young man someday."

"You know what, shut up!" Hammond shouts. "We'll take them to the next safe outpost. God, I hate moral dilemmas."

"Yeah, what's next chief?" The stranger asks. "You want to start a college fund for him?"

"Puppies and kittens. 200 yeards away." Warren calls. Everyone gets up with their weapons as Hammond looks at Warren confused.

"Zombies." Garnett clarifies.

"Alright, everybody. Time to go. You, five, I want you to gather all the food and weapons you can find. Load them into that truck. The keys are still inside."

"Hey! We haven't talked about this." Mack says.

"We can talk about it later." Hammond snaps. "Right now, you do what I tell you. Garnett! You stay with the baby and Murphy until we get back. Warren, you and I are gonna see if we can start up that deuce and a half. Everybody meets back here in five." No one moves. "Go!" Garnett nods to them, causing them to file out.

"Do it." Emily walks out with Doc, hand in hand, as they start towards the cars and bodies. Emily pikes the Zs in case they jump back up and searches through their pockets. She hears growling, causing her to turn to see Doc get grabbed.

"Doc!" Emily shouts in alarm.

"Shoot him. Shoot him." Doc says as the two dance around, but no one can get a clear shot. Suddenly a shot went out and blew the Z's brain right out of its skull. Emily turns and sees a guy on the roof.

"Wow." She whispers. "Doc are you okay?" Emily asks.

"Don't worry, kiddo, I'm okay." Doc says as he wraps an arm around her. She wraps her arms around him and sighs.

"Good."

"We should start making our back." Doc tells her, causing her to nod.

They make their way back to see Garnett holding the door shut and Warren catching her breath. "What's the holdup?" Hammond asks.

"Where's the baby?" Addy asks.

"Turned." Warren says.

"Surprise. Surprise." Emily glares at Murphy as he says that. Garnett grabs Murphy and pins him against the building.

"Let him go." Hammond orders as he aims a gun at Garnett. "Or I will send you to walk among the dead." Garnett lets Murphy go and Hammon grabbed Murphy and throws him to the side.

"Let's get in the trucks." Hammond says. "We're moving out."

"What about the... the baby thing?" Warren asks. "We can't leave it like that."

"Yeah, she's right. Even if it is turned." Mack agrees.

"It sounds so sad." Addy says, causing Emily to give her a look.

"Seriously, Addy, it's not human anymore. It doesn't have emotions." Addy gives a look right back at Emily.

"Emmy is right, it's not sad. It's a zombie."

"Amen, brother. Let's go." Murphy says.

"We can't leave it like that."

"I'll do it." Garnett says.

"I'll do it." Hammond jumps in. "I need you to pull it together." He looks at the others now. "Two minutes. Be ready to go." Hammond rushes in and they shut him in as Emily heads towards the truck. She hops into the back and covers the group's back with her bow and arrow.

She frowns as she hears gunfire. "If we wanted to ditch these two, take the truck and run, now would be the time." Doc says, causing everyone to look at him. "Just sayin'." Emily tightens her grip on her bow as she hears Hammond scream. The group rushes in as Emily stands guard by the truck. Gunfire goes off before the group walks back out without Hammond.

"You know, none of this would have happened if you'd just left that damn baby." Murphy says.

"I didn't tell Hammond to go get eaten by a baby." Garnett tells him.

"Never mind that now." Warren says. "We need a plan."

"My plan is I am taking this truck and I am forgetting about vaccines and labs and all of you. I wanted off this train from day one, and now's my chance."

"Wait, wait, wait, you can't just go." Doc cuts in. "What about California? What about the vaccine?"

"What if it's real? What if there's a chance? And what if it's you?" Addy asks.

"Addy. How do we know this isn't all just bullshit?" Mack asks.

"How does anybody know anything anymore?"

"Delta-xray-delta." A voice says, causing Emily to look towards it confused.

"What the hell is that?" Warren asks.

"Delta-xray-delta. Come in." Emily heads back towards Hammond's body lays. There's a radio that sits on him. She picks it up and wipes it off. "Delta-xray-delta. This is Northern Light. Operation Bite Mark. Do you copy? Delta-xray-delta." Emily walks back out with the walkie.

"It's Hammond's radio."

"Delta-xray-delta. This is Northern Light."

"Hello?" Emily says into it.

"I copy you. Delta-xray! This is... This is Northern Light. Who am I speaking to?"

"Emily Tucker." Emily tells the man.

"Okay. I need to speak to Lieutenant Hammond."

"Hammond's dead."

"I'm... I'm... I'm sorry. I... I didn't copy that, Delta-xray. Did you say that Hammond is dead?"

"Yeah, he's dead." Emily says.

"Is the package safe?" Emily frowns and looks at Garnett.

"Package? What package? Who is this? What are you talking about?"

"Listen. I need to speak to whoever's in charge."

"Who is it?" Warren asks.

"They won't say. They want to know who's in charge."

"You are." Warren says to Garnett. Emily hands the walkie over to him.

"This is Sergeant Garnett of the National Guard. Who is this?" Garnett says. There's a pause before Garnett answers the man on the radio. "Yes. He's still alive." Another pause. "Do you mean the lab in California?" Again another pause. "But we don't know... Who are you?" Garnett frowns and looks at the walkie. "It's dead."

"So?" Warren asks.

"So... It looks like we're taking Mr. Congeniality here to California."

"Says who?" Garnett throws the walkie down and starts towards Murphy.

"Says me." In a few minutes the group get into the three trucks. Doc is driving one with the girl sitting beside, while Warren drove the other with Garnett and Murphy. Mack and Addy are in the third one.

Doc stops as he sees a raven-haired boy walking. "Hey." Doc says. "Hey there. You're that sharpshooter that saved my ass, aren't you?" The kid doesn't say anything. "Oh, man. I want to thank you. Do you need a ride?" The kid shrugs before hopping into the back where Emily sits. He hits the side and Doc start down the road.

Emily glances over at where the boy stands before going back to sharpening her knife. The group starts the road, on their way to California.


	3. Chapter 3

The group is riding down the Tappan Zee Bridge not carrying a bit about the Zs. They're all running over them, causing Emily to smile. "This is awesome!" She shouts in delight. she hasn't been in this happy in awhile. Her ginger hair flies in the wind like a flag. She glances over to see the new kid looking at her. She blushes at his staring.

She hasn't really said much to him since they started driving. But he is kind of cute. He looks to be about her age. Raven black hair, beautiful green eyes. He's dressed weird though. Cargo pants, a camo shirt, a scarf, and padding that looked to be handmade. They stare at each other for a minute before the truck pulls to the left, causing them both to stumble a bit.

"Wow, easy with the driving, Doc." Emily says as they finally get off the bridge. They ride down the road as Emily pulls her hair into a bun to keep it from going everywhere. The trucks begin to pull off to the side of the road and turn off. It's then that Emily notices the truck smoking slightly. "Uh, oh, what did you do now, Doc?" She whispers as she sees the truck smoke.

"Well, that was fun." Addy says from the driver's seat of the car in front of truck Emily is in.

"Ha ha. Out of gas." Warren says as she walks from her car, the one in the front, and starts down to Addy.

"Running on fumes." The women high five before Warren heads to Doc's truck.

Emily stands with the new kid, her arms resting on top of the truck as they pull up to the refinery. "Huh." Emily says as she looks at the place. "Well, it sure isn't abandoned." The place is crowded with Zs. There had to be hundreds, maybe even a thousand. The front left wheel is the one causing the smoke.

"Alright. So it looks like you got a flat." Warren says as Doc gets out of the truck.

Doc walks to the bed of the truck and puts the tailgate down. Emily walks over and looks at Doc. Doc smiles and grabs her by the waist and helps her down before grabbing the supplies to fix the tire.

"Heads up. We got company." Mack calls to the group. The group all turns with their weapons ready as a couple of bikes ride down the road.

"That's right. Keep rolling and we all live to see another day." Warren says as the two bikers ride off. "Alright. Let's do this quick." Warren says as they turn to the tire. They get the tire unscrewed and lift the truck up to get it off. "It doesn't look flat, but it won't... turn." Warren says as she struggles to turn the wheel.

"We ran over some fun stuff." Doc says.

"Okay. Well, help me get it off and let's see what's going on." Warren says as they work together to get the tire off.

They get the tire off and see a Z stuck up inside. "Well, that explains the pull to the left." Doc says.

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way." Emily says as she leans against him.

"What are you waiting for? Kill it! Kill it!" Murphy shouts.

"Want me to?" Emily asks.

"Go ahead, kiddo." Doc says as Emily grabs her knife

"Alright, you. Time to go home." Warren says as she nods to Emily. Emily stabs the walker and it's dead in seconds."

They start down the roads away and looks at the city in the distance. "Ever after all this. This is still beautiful." Warren smiles.

"Take a good look. Might not be back for awhile."

"So long New York."

"See ya in the next life." Murphy says before walking away. Emily sighs and starts back to the truck.

The group starts down the road the other way to car graveyard. They're searching for gas, but not a single car has any. "Come on, let's search these cars." Doc says as he grabs Emily's hand and starts off with the new guy. Doc is searching a red car, while the new kid is trying to get the gas of the one behind it. Emily is working on getting gas from the red car. "So what's your name kid?" Doc asks the new kid.

"Ten thousand." Emily glances over at the kid confused.

"That is not a name. That's a number." Doc says.

"It's my name." His voice is nice to listen to in Emily's mind. It's soothing and quiet.

"I like it." Doc and the new kid looks at Emily as she says that. "Well, I mean 10k sounds kind of cool." Emily shrugs.

"I made it up myself."

"Maybe I should find a cool name." Emily smiles, causing 10k to glance over at her.

"Well, I suppose you'd have to and Emily, I like your name." Emily shrugs and goes back to her car. "Does it mean anything?" Doc asks the new kid.

"How many zombies I'm going to kill."

"Wow, that's cool." Emily says.

"Well, that's a whole lot of zombies." Doc says.

"Already on 1,055." Emily's jaw drops.

"Wow, awesome."

"Damn!" Doc says as he looks at 10k. "So what happens when you get to 10,000?" Doc asks.

"Change my name."

"To what? Twenty thousand?" Doc laughs, causing Emily to smile.

"No, Jeff." Emily and Doc look at each other as 10k says this. "I like the name Jeff."

"Hmm." Emily shrugs as she stands up. "No gas." She sighs.

"Ah, shut up." Emily glances over as 10k as he pikes a Z. Emily walks over to 10k and checks the gas in that car.

"There's no gas anywhere." Emily sighs.

"You could go as Archer." Emily glances over at 10k with a confused look. "You like archery, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So if you want a nickname just go as Archer, you are an archer after all."

"Hm." Emily smiles. "I like it." She says as she starts back towards the group with 10k.

"Where did everybody go? I haven't seen a survivor except for those two bikers." Warren says as 10k and Emily walk over.

"Black Summer. Everybody starved to death." Garnett tells Warren.

"I was in Philly for Black Summer. It was bad. I lost thirty pounds. Thought I was dead." The new girl says.

"How did you survive?" Addy asks.

"Did what I had to do."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa." Murphy says as he moves away from the car he was leaning on. Emily grabs her bow and loads it with an arrow as Warren aimed her gun at the man.

"Hold on. It's not a Z." Warren says as they see the same guy as before on the bike.

"Peace. No bites here." The man says as he holds his hands up. "100 percent alive."

"What happened to your friend?" Garnett asks.

"Turns out he had other friends of low morals." The man says as 10k and Emily keep their weapons pointed on him, while Warren pats him down. "Took my ride. Horse thieves should be shot."

"You should choose better friends." The new girl says, causing the man to look over at her.

"It's good... advice." Emily looks between the two with a frown on her face.

"What can we do for you?" Warren asks as the guy stares at the new girl. "One peaceful group of humans to a lone traveler?"

"Could use a lift. Sure don't want to spend the night out here alone."

"Sorry. We ain't running a taxi service." Murphy says.

"Which way are you headed?" Garnett cuts in.

"Any direction but back. Word is there's a horde on the move south on the New York side. I see you're scrounging for gas. You know like we used to say, ass, gas, or grass." He laughs, but no one else does. "Nobody rides for free." Warren gives him a look. "I know where you could fill up."

"Now would be the time to share that information." Garnett says.

"Place called Jersey Devil Refinery, maybe five miles off, just off the turnpike."

"How do you know there's gas there?" Warren asks.

"Got overrun day number one. All the tanks are still full, just rusting away." The group is silent for a moment.

"Alright, take us to this refinery."


	4. Chapter 4

They head down to the refinery with 10k sitting in the back of the truck with her. "So, 10k..." 10k's eyes move over to Emily as she spoke. Emily tries to think of something to say. Something to get the conversation moving. "Wanna play 20 questions?"

"What?"

"20 questions. It's a game Doc and I played when we first met. It helps people get to know each other. I ask a question and we both answer and then you can choose the next question we answer. Wanna play?"

"Sure."

"Okay..." Emily bites her lip, trying to think of something easy to ask for the first one. "Favorite color."

"Black." 10k says after a moment of thinking.

"Mine's red." Emily smiles. "Your turn to ask a question."

"Um..." 10k frowns as he tries to think of a question. "What used to be your favorite thing to eat?" Emily smiles at the question.

"Hands down ice cream. I used to love ice cream. It was my favorite thing. Probably why I was pudgy as a kid." Emily giggles, causing 10k to smile. "What about you?"

"I liked chocolate."

"Chocolate is good too." Emily agrees. "Okay, my second question. Did you ever kiss anyone?" Emily blushes as she asks this, but she can't help but have it slip out. 10k blushes at the question and stares down at his hands.

"No. I was thirteen when this happened."

"Me too." 10k looks up at Emily as she says this.

"I've been mostly on my own, so no I never kissed anybody before."

"Me either."

"Do you want to?" Emily breath catches as she looks at 10k.

"Growing up I always was told having your first anything with someone is supposed to be special and magical, but now that I'm sixteen I see people dying all the time and can't help but think that if I wait for the special person they could easily die the next day. I think I should just stop holding back and stop worrying about the consequences of taking it slow with people. Plus it tends to work out if you give up the worry. Addy and Mack didn't even know each other until this started and then they started dating, so I guess anything is possible... I normally don't talk this much."

"I don't mind." Emily smiles as they pull up to the refinery. "Looks like we're here." The two stand up and look in shock to see what the place is like. All around the factory is Zs and a loud clanging noise is being sounded around them. "Wow." Emily says as everyone gets out and head forward. 10k and Emily hang back watching the area as the others discuss

"Fracking zombies." Emily giggles as 10k say it after a moment.

"Well, first we got to shut off whatever's making that noise." Garnett says, raising his voice so Emily and 10k can hear him.

"Okay, it's probably some kind of pump. But where?" Warren asks.

"Follow the zombies." Mack says. "They all seem to be headed for the top of that catwalk."

"We'll get up there and check it out."

"Then we got to have a sound that draws the Zs away from the pump so we can get to the gas."

"Sorry, I left my guitar back at Camp Blue Sky." Doc says, causing Emily to smile.

"You want to come me to look for gas?" Emily's eyes snap over to 10k.

"What about the group?" 10k shrugs. "Well..." Her eyes move to Doc. "Okay, I guess I'll join you." The two jump down from the truck and head off down the road.

"Come on, let's go this way."

"How are we going to get to the pumps?" Emily asks. "Maybe we should have gone with the other's plans."

"We'll just kill the Zs. Don't worry, Emily." 10k says as he takes Emily's hand and hurries ahead. They run past the Zs and head right for the gas. "Cover me." 10k says as he grabs some lone gas containers. Emily grabs her bows and begins to fire arrow after arrow as the banging sound shuts off and the Zs start heading towards 10k.

"10k hurry up." Emily says as she uses her last arrow. "10k!" Emily shouts as the Zs start for her. She backs up and pulls her knife out. "10k!" She looks towards where he was but he's not there. "10k!" She trips over a tire, causing her to fall. She closes her eyes just as she hears a thunking sound. She slowly opens her eyes and sees a gear go piercing into the Zs skull. One after another the Zs falls dead.

"Emily, you okay?" Emily wraps her arms around 10k, shaking all over as she holds onto him. "It's okay. You're okay." She closes her eyes and lets out a shaky breath. "I got the gas, but we have to go. The Zs are heading this way." 10k tells her as he stands up, pulling her up with him. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay, just startled."

"We should head back towards the others before they leave." 10k grabs her hand and hands her one of the gas containers. She takes it and he takes the other before the two head back the way they came.

"10k." Their route is surrounded by Zs.

"Let's go through the buildings." 10k says as he holds tighter to her hand and leads inside the building. They run through, but Emily stops them.

"Doc." 10k looks over and grabs his slingshot, firing at the Z, causing it to fall. Doc looks towards them in shock.

"One thousand sixty-three." 10k says as they look at Doc. "I got you arrows." 10k says as he hands them over to her.

"Thanks, 10k." She smiles before loading her bow and firing with him. Together they take down the Zs together and 10k counts his kills. "Shit." Emily says as she watches Murphy drive off. "Now we really need to get back."

"Come on." An explosion goes off, causing Emily to jump and grab 10k's arm.

"What was that?"

"The refinery must have blown up."

"We have to get back to the group." Emily says as she runs faster, dragging 10k after her.

"Wait here comes the kid and Emily!" Doc calls as Emily and 10k run up to the group.

"Found these." 10k says, a bit breathless from the run Emily made him do.

"Kids, you're both gods." Doc says as he grabs the cans.

"Yeah, well hurry up." Warren orders.

"Come on, 10k." Emily smiles as two get into the back of the truck with the others.

"I miss being just in the back with you." Emily glances over as 10k whispers this, but she sees him staring at his lap, not looking at her. She decides to pretend she didn't hear him, not wanting to upset him. "Excuse me, ma'am." 10k says after a moment. Emily looks where he is looking and sees he's looking at the new girl. "You have a finger in your hair." Emily giggles as she leans against 10k. New girl looks at Emily and 10k with confusion, but 10k nods to her shoulder. The girl pulls out a finger and throws it as Emily and 10k look at each other.

"Wanna keep playing?" 10k smiles.

"Sure."


End file.
